Keaton is often described as having been ahead of his time; Anthony Lane wrote "He was just too good, in too many ways, too soon No action thriller of the last, blood-streaked decade has matched the kinetic violence at the end of Steamboat Bill, Jr., in which a storm pulls Keaton through one random catastrophe after another. Harold Lloyd made us laugh as much, Charlie Chaplin moved us more deeply, but no one had more courage than Buster."[103]. [71] He wears a small version of Hart's campaign hat from the SpanishAmerican War and a six-shooter on each thigh, and during the scene in which he shoots the neighbor and her husband, he reacts with thick glycerin tears, a trademark of Hart's. In the earliest days on stage, they traveled with a medicine show that included family friend . Throughout the story, a simple good-guys-versus-bad-guys schema is applied to the Civil War, with the Confederates being the good guys, and Johnnie's hometown of Marietta depicted as a sort of bland, folksy utopia. Known as "The Great Stone Face," Keaton got big laughs out of his relentlessly blank expression in silent film comedies like The Saphead (1920), Sherlock, Jr. (1924), and his famous The General (1927). The theatrical feature film The Misadventures of Buster Keaton was fashioned from the series. Prikryl, Jana (July 9, 2011), "The Genius of Buster". A suitcase handle was sewn into Keaton's clothing to aid with the constant tossing. Director William Asher recalled: I always loved Buster Keaton. He would bring me bits and routines. He Was Born On The Road. [16][17][18] According to a frequently repeated story, which may be apocryphal,[19] Keaton acquired the nickname Buster at the age of 18 months. Keaton had a hard time capturing the promise of Sherlock Jr. over the next few years. It soon. In 1964, he told an interviewer that in making "this particular pork pie", he "started with a good Stetson and cut it down", stiffening the brim with sugar water. Born into a vaudeville family, Keaton's career waned after his inked with MGM and lost his artistic . Buster Keaton is an American actor, known in the world of cinema as "The Great Stone Face" The popularity of the artist at the peak of his career was comparable to the demand of Charlie Chaplin. . Keaton, however, did not own any part of the company. His father was Joseph Hallie "Joe" Keaton, a native of Vigo County, Indiana. When the Educational series lapsed in 1937, Keaton returned to MGM as a gag writer, supplying material for the final three Marx Brothers MGM films: At the Circus (1939), Go West (1940), and The Big Store (1941); these were not as artistically successful as the Marxes' previous MGM features. That's the way it always had been, until his mother . She has been credited with salvaging his life and career. To the world, he was the famous silent film star Buster Keaton, but to Melissa Talmadge Cox of Cloverdale, he was simply Grandpa Buster. Image via United Artists. Natalie would glare and fly into a rage. Keaton was born into a vaudeville family. However, Hart himself was not amused by Keaton's antics, particularly the crying scene, and did not speak to Keaton for two years after he had seen the film. Late in his career, Keaton made cameos in Wilder's Sunset Boulevard, Chaplin's Limelight, Samuel Beckett's Film and the Twilight Zone episode "Once Upon a Time". [29] Keaton later said[where?] Critic Roger Ebert wrote of Keaton's "extraordinary period from 1920 to 1929" when he "worked . His talent led the family to New York City and, in 1909, to an appearance in London. After Robert's birth, the marriage began to suffer. I just stood there, and everybody is hassling. In the last analysis, no one came near him. Keaton then refused to appear at a publicity event, and was fired 48 hours later. I n the shadow of a massive dune known as Pigeon Hill. [69] Three Ages (1923), his first feature-length film, is a parody of D. W. Griffith's Intolerance (1916), from which it replicates the three inter-cut shorts structure. Please enable JavaScript in your browser's settings to use this part of Geni. Their routine had relied on physical prowess and exact timing, and required reliable performers. The first was Sherlock Jr., in which a daydreaming projectionist who longs to be a detective becomes part of the movie he is showing. Buster plays a projectionist who dreams his way onto the screen and into a movie in which he resolves the conflicts of his own life. By the time he was three, Keaton had become part of his parents' act, renamed "The Three Keatons." The following year, United Artists hired Keaton; he made ten shorts in the next two years. [23], The act ran up against laws banning child performers in vaudeville. "[12] In 2018, Peter Bogdanovich released The Great Buster: A Celebration, a tribute to Keaton featuring Mel Brooks, Carl Reiner, Werner Herzog and Quentin Tarantino, among others. Six of his films have been included in the National Film Registry, making him one of the most honored filmmakers on that list: One Week (1920), Cops (1922), Sherlock Jr. (1924), The General (1926), Steamboat Bill, Jr., and The Cameraman (both 1928)[97], A 1957 film biography, The Buster Keaton Story, starring Donald O'Connor as Keaton was released. He appeared on shows such as Playhouse 90, Route 66, and The Twilight Zone. "[76] Gilberto Perez commented on "Keaton's genius as an actor to keep a face so nearly deadpan and yet render it, by subtle inflections, so vividly expressive of inner life. in Woodland Hills, California, USA, This form allows you to report an error or to submit additional information about this family tree: Buster KEATON (1895), Copyright Wikipdia authors - This article is under licence CC BY-SA 3.0. [69] When Keaton transposed his experience in vaudeville to film, in many works he parodied melodramas. "[34], It was an expensive misfire (the climactic scene of a locomotive plummeting through a burning bridge was the most expensive single shot in silent-film history),[35][36] and Keaton was never entrusted with total control over his films again. Keaton's character emerged unscathed, due to a single open window. "[44] Keaton made the film anyway, and was amazed that it became his biggest box office success. Keaton's other 1924 film, The Navigator, was shot on an ocean liner and directed with Donald Crisp. She filed for divorce in 1935 after finding him with Leah Clampitt Sewell, the wife of millionaire Barton Sewell,[88] in a hotel in Santa Barbara. Other significant film appearances included Around the World in 80 Days (1956), It's a Mad Mad Mad Mad World (1963), A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum (1966), and War Italian Style (1966). Two years later she changed their sons' last name to Talmadge. They had two sons: Joseph, called James[81] (June 2, 1922 February 14, 2007),[82] and Robert (February 3, 1924 July 19, 2009).[83]. "I went over (Weingarten's) head and appealed to Irving Thalberg to help get me out of the assignment. Much more thoroughly than Chaplin, he managed a near-perfect, and highly expressive, harmony between the roles of performer and filmmaker." [71] Keaton directed the film, along with Edward F. Cline. Cox moved with her family to Cloverdale in the . "The Three Keatons," a poor vaudeville family consisting of Joe, his wife Myra and their seven-year-old son Buster, arrive in Fargo, North Dakota on a snowy winter's day in 1904, with dreams of becoming stars. Piqua, Kansas's greatest claim to fame is that it's the birthplace of Buster Keaton. The guest of honor and his bride Myra Keaton ride Minnie . Buster Keaton's full name is Joseph Frank Keaton and his nickname is Buster Keaton. No Beer? Named a Best Book of 2022 by The New Yorker, Publishers Weekly, and NPR In this genre-defying work of cultural history, the chief film critic of Slate places comedy legend and acclaimed filmmaker Buster Keaton's unique creative genius in the context of his time. Keaton died of lung cancer on February 1, 1966, aged 70, in Woodland Hills, Los Angeles. His third wife was a dancer named Eleanor Ruth Norris. Two of his best films were made in 1924. Mini Bio (1) Joseph Frank Keaton was born on October 4, 1895 in Piqua, Kansas, to Joe Keaton and Myra Keaton. $49.99. [100] Hirschfeld said that modern film stars were more difficult to depict, that silent film comedians such as Laurel and Hardy and Keaton "looked like their caricatures". 4.47. Geni requires JavaScript! He was 70 years old. They eventually had two sons, Joseph and Robert. Buster Keaton was one of three great silent film comedians (along with Charlie Chaplin and Harold Lloyd). Harry N. Abrams, 2001, pg. ", "The Narrative-Machine: Buster Keaton's Cinematic Comedy, Deleuze's Recursion Function and the Operational Aesthetic", "Keaton Chose $40 in Films to $750 on Stage", Buster Keaton: Cut to the Chase: A Biography, "My Career at the Rear / Buster Keaton in World War I", "Muskegon: Buster Keaton documentary to focus on early life in Muskegon", "Reviews: The General/Steamboat Bill Jr", "Velocipede used by Buster Keaton in the film Our Hospitality", "Moving Pictures: Buster Keaton's 'General' Pulls In To PFA. Fairbanks recommended Keaton to take the role[citation needed] for the remake five years later, since the film was to have a comic slant. He was every member of the audience as well as every performer. [96] Keaton has two stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame: 6619 Hollywood Boulevard (for motion pictures); and 6225 Hollywood Boulevard (for television). In 2022, two works on Keaton appeared within a month of each other. While the movie had an impressive tornado sequence and an interesting topic (a Mississippi riverboat race) which pleased critics, Steamboat Bill Jr. was not a commercial success. The map below shows the places where the ancestors of the famous person lived. In 2016, Tony Hale portrayed Keaton in an episode of Drunk History focusing on the silent comedian's supposed rivalry with Charlie Chaplin, who was played by musician Billie Joe Armstrong. Several factors, other than the loss of creative control, contributed to Keaton's downward spiral in the late 1920s and early 1930s. Joseph Frank Keaton was born October 4, 1895 to Joe, a comedic acrobat whose main aid was a table, and Myra, one of the . In 1950, he played himself in Sunset Boulevard. His life quickly spiraled downward. He appeared on screen simultaneously nine times. In 1920, Arbuckle left Comique Films for Paramount. Find many great new & used options and get the best deals for Buster Keaton With Dog Rare Candid 8x10 Photo at the best online prices at eBay! His wife divorced him, and he descended into alcoholism. During his time in uniform, he suffered an ear infection that permanently impaired his hearing. "[41] MGM wanted only Keaton the star, Keaton the creator was considered a waste of time and money because "in the time it took him to develop a project, he could have appeared in two or three pictures set up by the studio's production staff. He would return often. He is the first action hero; to be precise, he is a small, pale-faced American who is startled, tripped, drenched and inspired into becoming a hero. [46] Keaton had a free hand in staging the films, within the studio's budgetary limits and using its staff writers. 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